Research on collective identities in Peru shows a lack of analysis of local/regional
identity processes, as well as lack of analysis of the relationship between regional and
national identities. The social context in which local/regional identities and intergroup
processes take place is defined by power assimetries where ethnic-racial, social, regional
among other characteristics, might be used to comprise the Peruvian society in high and lowstatus
social categories. Under this escenary, the main research objective is to understand the
relationship between collective identities, intergroup relations and political ideology in two
geographic regions of Peru: Lima and Ayacucho. To accomplish this objective, three studies
were conducted. First and second studies were qualitative research designs framed on the
Theory of Social Reprentations. Specifically, the first study consisted of focus groups (n=26
participants), whose objective was to explore the narratives of young Limenians about
Peruvian society and national identity. The second study consisted of in-depth interviews
with young people from Lima and Ayacucho (n=31 participants), whose objective was to
describe in-depth contents related to regional identities and the intergroup relations between
Lima and Ayacucho. The third study consisted of a quantitative correlational research design
(n=809) that analysed the relationahip between local/regional identity, perception of
intergroup relations, political ideology among others. This study also described and analyzed
an integrative structural model of the relations mentioned above in order to explain how these
relations derive in the national identity highlighting both common aspects of the
representation of being Peruvian (Ser Peruano), as well as the regional particularities of this
meaning.
Both qualitative and quantitative results establish discrepancies between Lima and
Ayacucho in the conformation of collective identities and confirmed the role of political
ideology and intergroup relations in this conformation. The mentioned differences evidenced
a set of combinatory between variables that are differentiated by region. This relation would
corroborate the susceptibility of the components involved in the constitution of national
identities to specific social and historical conditions of the country and each regional group.
Finally, the integration of the three studies confirmed the relevance of considering complex
models that account for the regional differences in the configuration of local identities and
Peruvian national identity. The interrelationship among several variables that have been
shown to have an effect on the constitution of these identity processes and the intergroup
dynamics that derive from them.